"Tim Yeo, a former environment minister… says the “environmental objections” to the expansion of Heathrow are “disappearing”. … in an article for The Daily Telegraph he says Mr Cameron must “find his sense of mission” and push ahead with the controversial project. “The Prime Minister must ask himself whether he is man or mouse,” he writes. “Does he want to be another Harold Macmillan, presiding over a dignified slide towards insignificance?" – Daily Telegraph | Guardian

I backed Cameron on Heathrow to save the environment – but the facts have changed – Tim Yeo MP for the Daily Telegraph

The economic case for a third runway at Heathrow is overwhelming – Daily Telegraph editorial

Backbenchers demand answers from Cameron on how the next election can be won

"David Cameron will face demands from his MPs next week to explain how he can win the next general election, as he enters a two-month period that could be the busiest of his premiership. MPs will use William Hague’s appearance before the 1922 Committee and Mr Cameron’s dinner with parliamentary colleagues shortly afterwards to demand to know whether he has a plan for victory in the next election, after the Lib Dems announced opposition to the review on constituency boundaries." – Times (£)

"Senior Tory figures, who are calling in private for Osborne to swap with the foreign secretary William Hague, are likely to seize on the poll which shows the chancellor is seen as one of the weaker members of the cabinet. Nearly half (48%) of voters say he should lose his job in the reshuffle. This rises to 52% among the over 65s and 53% among those aged between 35 and 64 – the age groups that are most likely to vote." – Guardian

Voters put pressure on David Cameron to remove George Osborne – Guardian

Which cabinet ministers should be sacked? More poll results from the Guardian

A full government reshuffle is on for early September but who will be the winners and losers? – Daily Telegraph

Janan Ganesh: Osborne has cut the top rate of tax and imposed the longest period of austerity since WW2, yet the Tory right consider him too cautious

"The chancellor is beleaguered by all sides but only one side can claim any coherence… he regards the right’s anger as confused and self-contradictory. He is correct but his mistake was to expect anything else. Unlike prime minister David Cameron… Mr Osborne witnessed at close quarters Mr Major’s evisceration by his own right flank. …That should have taught Mr Osborne a lesson he is now learning the hard way. The Tory right are many things: fizzing with ideas; more diverse in social background than the blue-blooded modernisers; often shrewd in their big judgment calls, namely the folly of the single currency. But they are not biddable. They do not reward concessions to their demands; they pocket them and ask for more. Nothing is ever enough." – Janan Ganesh for the FT (£)

"One of the admirable things about Paul Ryan, the Republican Party's pick for vice president, is the regularity and clarity with which he sets out America's long-term debt problem. Sure, not everyone agrees with the medicine he advocates, and there is plenty of debate to be had on his proposed entitlement reforms. But there is clarity about what he is trying to achieve. Anyone who has watched his "Path to Prosperity" videos online is left in little doubt as to his intentions." – Ryan Bourne for the Wall Street Journal

"More than £1billion of council tax benefit payments have been lost in six years because of fraud or mistakes, the Government will claim today. Eric Pickles… has now challenged councils to get a grip of the problem as they prepare to take responsibility for handing out the benefit from April. Councils have complained that a shake-up of the system will see them having to pay out the cash instead of it coming from central government." - Daily Express

Gove pulls plug on free school days before start of term

"Funding for a new free school has been pulled by Michael Gove’s department, just days before it was due to open, because it had not recruited enough pupils. The One In A Million Free School, in Bradford, was expected to open its doors for the first time next week. … The families of those children will now have just days to find them a place at a different school before the start of term. It raises questions about whether other free schools due to open next week could also have their funding withdrawn at the 11th hour." – Times (£)

"In Westminster’s male-dominated corridors of power you might assume that women would stick together out of solidarity – especially if they are in the same party. Think again. The traditional serenity of a summer at Parliament was shattered yesterday when one female politician turned on another. It was Prince Harry who started it though, with the women taking opposing sides over whether pictures of him partying should have appeared in the British press. Outspoken Nadine Dorries rode to the defence of the third in line to the throne against her colleague Louise Mensch." – Daily Express | Daily Telegraph

East coast mainline should remain in public hands, says Labour frontbencher

"Britain's east coast mainline, which runs trains from London to Edinburgh, should remain in public hands, the shadow transport secretary, Maria Eagle, has said. In a contribution to Ed Miliband's debate on forging a more responsible economy, Eagle said Britain's mainly privatised rail network would benefit from a "public sector comparator"." – Guardian

"Conservative councils will build on average 20 social homes for the poorest people in society by the end of the parliament – and in the housing minister's own back yard, just one house a year will be built until 2015, according to a survey. Freedom of information requests by the Labour party to 324 local councils showed that Tory local authorities were building fewer than half as many social homes as Liberal Democrat councils and fewer than a fifth of those in Labour authorities" – Guardian

"Britain may be forced to lift its ban on political advertising on television before the next election, leading to a profound change in campaigning. The European Court of Human Rights will announce within weeks whether it thinks political adverts should be permitted on TV. The ban… is being challenged because opponents say it breaches the guarantee to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights." – Times (£)

Six out of ten prisons too crowded, with 7,000 more inmates than they're meant to hold – Daily Mail

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